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Bradt Guide Eccentric America
Ref: BRA001
Lowell Thomas Award, 'Best Guidebook 2002' Society of American Travel Writers
Offering a provocative look at over 1,000 of the quirkiest people and places on the fringes of mainstream tourism, Eccentric America (www.eccentricamerica.com) leads you to the country’s most unforgettable experiences. The second edition of this award-winning book has been thoroughly updated, with 330 totally new entries, regional calendars of wacky festivals and events, and an intriguing ‘Heights of Eccentricity’ map of the United States. An entertaining and funny read, it’s also a comprehensive guide to a side of American culture you won’t want to miss.
Book Reviews
"Friedman brings a wicked sense of the absurd to listings for places as strange as the future birthplace of Captain Kirk in Iowa, the office building shaped like a giant picnic basket in Ohio, and the B&B in a cave in New Mexico." Chicago Times
"This book is fun to read. Very enjoyable. It makes you want to go to the USA and see for yourself what all these crazy Americans get up to."
-- Follies magazine
"Read the first couple of pages of this book and you'll realise just how much of the US of A you've been missing."
-- Sunday Times
"A definitive guide to all that is wacky in America. A fun guide for visitors seeking to know and see things beyond the tried and tested sights."
-- Essentially America
"A veritable encyclopedia of idiocy."
-- Writers News
"For travelers who enjoy mixing the wierd with the wonderful on their journeys, this is a book that reimburses the cover price with laughter."
-- OR Oregonian, USA
“..an entertaining and slanted look at the country where more aliens are sighted than anywhere else..”
Everything America, December 2004
Author's Note, by Jan Friedman
It doesn't matter that the rest of the world paints us with an eccentric brush, often dismissing our quirkiness with an attitude that 'all Americans are crazy'. We're a culture based on unprecedented opportunity to achieve individual potential and the freedom to behave in a manner that both delights and shocks foreign visitors. Eccentricity, American style, is both encouraged and enjoyed, at least as long as it doesn't interfere with anyone's schedule… Personally, I feel privileged to have met so many truly unique people in the course of writing this book, people willing and eager to share their unconventional passions and visions. I've gained a whole new appreciation for those who see our world through slightly skewed glasses. I've been enriched, as I hope you will be, by their stories, activities, and achievements as well as by their unwavering determination to stay their own personal course...
I hugely enjoyed the places I visited, and my 'eccentric closet' is filled with mementos and memories. My favourite souvenir is a bottle of Dr Buzzard's Court Case Bath and Floor Wash; you either put it in your bath water or wash the floor of your business with it when you're facing a court appearance and need to tip the scale of justice in your favour. My most memorable meal included cheddar-flavoured worm larvae. Certainly one of my most bizarre activities was skydiving - indoors. But most memorable of all are the people I met through these pages; people I feel honoured to know.
I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did.
Jan Friedman is no stranger to eccentricity, having spent most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area. A travel writer, travel photographer and former tour guide, she focused her insightful gaze upon America during a marathon year in which she discovered her own country's eccentric soul. A veteran traveller of 51 countries, Jan finally explored the corners of her own.
£13.95
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